Reversal learning procedures and stimulus-outcome relationships in the Weather Prediction task: An ERP study.
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1
University of New South Wales, School of Psychology, Australia
Aims: Determine whether reversal learning procedures modulate event-related potential (ERP) components associated with stimulus-outcome relationships during probabilistic association learning. The project is the first to document ERP components produced to stimulus aspects of the extensively tested Weather Prediction Task (WPT). Method: Participants completed two blocks (100 trials each) of the WPT while continuous electroencephalogram recordings were made. The probabilistic contingencies between stimulus cards and outcomes were reversed between block’s 1 and 2. ERP epochs (1000 ms) were temporally locked to stimulus presentations. Results: Stimulus presentations produced a number of ERP components related to the visually evoked potential (P1, N1, P2, N2, P3), however modulations of the components by the reversal of probability associations between blocks were topographic in nature only. Frontal N1 peaks were larger than posterior peaks in block 1 but not in block 2 (F = 9.876, p = .007). Midline P2 responses were larger than bi-lateral hemispheric peaks in the same pattern (F = 4.868, p = .045). Additionally, accuracy analyses revealed that P1 peaks were largest on trials that participants made incorrect choices (F = 5.564, p = .033), while the opposite was true for N2 peaks (F = 5.780, p = .031). N2 accuracy effects were present at posterior compared to frontal sites and were largest in block 2. Conclusions: While the reversal procedure didn’t affect overall peak amplitudes, N1 and P2 topographic changes with learning suggest modulations in subcomponents related to response preparation and selective attention, respectively. Additionally, P1 accuracy findings suggest that participants may experience increased arousal when presented with complex/difficult stimulus sets due to increased stimulus identification demands, while N2 peaks may be reflective of neural correlate of template matching which increased in efficiency as learning progressed.
Keywords:
probabilistic learning,
ERP,
weather prediction task,
reversal procedure,
selective attention
Conference:
ASP2013 - 23rd Annual meeting of the Australasian Society for Psychophysiology, Wollongong, Australia, 20 Nov - 22 Nov, 2013.
Presentation Type:
Poster Presentation
Topic:
Learning
Citation:
Gerathy
M and
Rushby
JA
(2013). Reversal learning procedures and stimulus-outcome relationships in the Weather Prediction task: An ERP study..
Conference Abstract:
ASP2013 - 23rd Annual meeting of the Australasian Society for Psychophysiology.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2013.213.00014
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Received:
25 Oct 2013;
Published Online:
05 Nov 2013.
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Correspondence:
Mr. Matthew Gerathy, University of New South Wales, School of Psychology, Sydney, Australia, m.gerathy@gmail.com